Isaiah's Birth Story

It's the moment I'm sure you all have been waiting for (hahaha, ok so only a few of you are actually curious)...Isaiah's birth story. By the pictures I'm sure you've been able to tell that he is super healthy...what a relief.

So the story begins on Monday, August 25th. I went to my twice weekly doctors visit where they monitored Isaiah's heart rate, my contractions, my BP, weight, etc, etc. I was feeling great that day, especially since I had such a wonderful Sunday (one of my best friends threw me a baby shower on Sunday! photos of that to come). It had only been 4 days since my previous visit and everything was still going fairly well so I had no big concerns...then I stepped on the scale...I had gained 12 pounds in 1 week! uh oh. I was having contraction (?really? I didn't feel them). My BP was still in a safe zone for a preeclamptic patient (140's/ 80's) so they sent me home with another jug to collect my pee. Yes, I said it...I had to collect my pee for 24 hours. This would be the 2nd, but not last, time I would get to enjoy this experience. Thankfully, Mark was the one who had to go back to the hospital and sit with a big stinky jug of my pee in the waiting room to get it to the lab...hahaha. Poor guy.

We got the results Tuesday afternoon that my proteinuria had jumped from 210 to 470 in 4 days...another uh oh. I was told to stay in bed and come in on Thursday for more non-stress testing. However, I was also starting to see spots to which the nurse I was speaking with responded, "oh, that's probably your eyes adjusting to the light, if it happens again call us." HUH?! My super fabuluous husband freaked out and called the high-risk doctor in Rockford who returned our call within the hour and within 2 minutes had my regular doctor on the phone to insist I be sent to the hospital immediately.

So I'm in the hospital, hooked up to all sorts of stuff. They decide to take my BP every hour, put me on nonstop fetal monitoring, collect ANOTHER 24 hr urine...etc, etc. They were essentially stalling. The on-call doctor finally made it in to see me late that evening. He was clearly very nervous and admitted that he was on pins and needles with a patient like me in his hospital on his watch. He said if were up to him he would deliver me immediately, but he could not overrule my primary care doctor without seeing me hit clinical markers for severe preeclampsia. After talking with us for about an hour, he called Rockford Memorial to get a go ahead to deliver me. The high-risk doc gave the ok, then the on-call doc decided to back pedal and decided he'd like to wait until the morning and have a discussion with other doctors before moving forward with anything. He was interested in putting a needle in my belly to test for lung maturation, but also needed an ok from my PCP. In the meantime, if I showed any more neurological symptoms he SAID he wouldn't hesistate to deliver the baby.

Clearly the doctors were concerned: 1) that Isaiah would have significant respiratory and/or neurological problems if born this early, despite the steroid injections and 2) that the preeclampsia would cause me to have seizures or would worsen the abruption causing me to bleed out rather quickly. For obvious reasons, Mark was terrified. It didn't really make things any better when they came in to pad up my bed in case I started seizing.

The following morning I was seeing spots again (signs that neurological complications may be impending) and my BP became labile (which means it was changing dramatically from 100/60 to high 150's/90's). We were told the night before that if my BP started doing this my risk of seizure skyrocketed and I would need to be treated immediately. At this point I freaked, especially because we thought we would be getting to speak with a doctor immediately, but we waited, and waited, and waited. Mark finally flipped out on the nurse while I cried like a little girl. In retrospect I'm sort of chuckling at how dramatic we were in that moment, but if there was ever a time to be over-the-top, that was it.

Thankfully our OB nurse got my primary care doctor on the phone immediately. Evidently our primary care doctor was OFFENDED that we had contacted the high-risk specialist in Rockford! What?! We clarified that her nurse was taking the liberty to give me piss poor medical advice of her own without consulting a physician and had not passed on info about my symptoms to the physicians... I don't think nurse "Jen" has a job anymore. :)! Strangely, things moved much quicker once this got cleared up.

Up to this point, Mark and I were irrate for several reasons: 1) our primary care doc missed not 1, but 2 very critical diagnoses, 2) although my symptoms worsened our doctor continued to neglect the situation, 3) once the high-risk doctors got involved it was clear no doctor that had seen me at Kishwaukee hospital was willing to make the call on what to do with me out of fear, 4)we had previously been told that the baby had received the proper protection with the steroids and would be born healthy any time after 33 weeks, once I was in the hospital at 34 weeks pending delivery, this information was clearly not true, and 5) I waited in a hospital bed without food for nearly 48 hours waiting for someone to step up and help us.

Mark made a list of all of the reasons he felt the baby should be delivered immediately, presented it to one of the doctors and flat out told them, "if you guys are too afraid to make a decision, I'll be more than happy to make the decision for you!"

Enter Dr. Sui....my new favorite person. In addition to everything mentioned above, the baby had stopped growing. He went from well above average size at 24 weeks to the lower 20th percentile at 34 weeks. Dr. Sui said for that reason alone, we should deliver the baby as my condition was clearly inhibiting the baby from further growth and the only reason for keeping him inside is for him to grow! Not shit? Really? This was a point Mark had brought up with the first doctor we had seen upon being admitted nearly 48 hrs earlier.

I was put on magnesium sulfate to prevent seizures (horrendous by the way, it makes you feel like you are on fire from the inside out..not just hot...ON FIRE!). It was decided to deliver the baby by C-section at 5:30 that evening. Yes, we were given the option to try to induce labor with a few caveats: 1) I would be given medications to induce labor, but my body would have to complete what is normally a 3 week preperation for birth in under 24 hours...with severe preeclampsia they would not let me labor for more than 24 hours due to the risks, 2) even if I only tried the induction for a few hours, there was a greater risk of hemmorage and seizure than if I would have a c-section, and 3) if I tried induction my chances were greater than 50% that I would end up with a c-section anyway.

We went with the safest approach and had a c-section...which was not the most pleasant experience, but did result in the quick delivery of my beautiful son! The numerous medications I was on to control everything from vomiting to pain made me unbelievably ill. Thankfully, Mark was with me and after only a few minutes of whining to him about how horrible I felt, I heard Isaiah cry...AND LOUDLY!

It was music to our ears. He passed all of the major markers (crying, cleared lungs, good apgar score, maintained core body temp, pooped, peed on the nurse....hahaha) all within a very short period of time. So he never had to be admitted to the NICU or even have oxygen. Mark went with him to the nursery where they bathed, weighed and measured while my surgery was finished and I went to recovery.

In the end, would I recommend a C-section...HELL NO! The drugs made me so sick I was vomiting all night long. Every time I sat up to hold Isaiah to feed him I had to vomit first, get IV anti-nausea meds to get me to stop, then feed the baby. It was EXHAUSTING and oddly wonderful at the same time (I'm sure other mommies can relate).

It was all worth it, of course. Isaiah is the most perfect thing ever. I've never been happier. I can spend an entire day sitting in bed staring at him and never get bored. I, of course, think he's the cutest child ever created...but I might be a little biased. He adores his daddy who went without sleep for days in the hospital to take care of him 24/7 while I recovered. Thanks to Mark, I got plenty of rest and upon returning home have felt fabulous. I think I'm healing pretty quickly and so far haven't experienced the exhaustion so many parents talk about once they arrive home. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that Mark helps out tremendously. He returned to work yesterday when Isaiah was only 5 days old and still manages to put in several hours at night changing diapers and feeding while I get my rest. Isaiah is also a huge help...he's a preemie so he pretty much sleeps all the time anyway and is a big eater (he's eating over 200-300 mL of high cal formula and 2 oz of breast milk a day), which can tide him over for up to 4 hours.

Today we had the biggest event yet. I have been trying to breastfeed, but my body was put through the ringer so I've been told that it could take me several weeks to produce enough milk to keep him healthy. In the meantime we are supplmenting with a high calorie formula so he can gain as much weight as possible. His tiny size prevents him from being able to maintain a body temp above 97 degrees. The faster he puts on weight, the easier it will be for him to regulate his body temp. So far he is eating tremendously, but we have had a few low temperature scares. Today was one of those days. I spent and 1 1/2 hours skin to skin with him under a heavy fleece blanket to warm him up. I know that this isn't a huge deal and that all will be well once I get his temp up, but it still makes me nervous. After getting warm, he continued to be fussy, which isn't like him...he's pretty content all the time. He didn't want a bottle, his diaper was clean...I was confused. I decided to give breastfeeding a try, although he pretty much latches, lays there, falls asleep and nothing happens, which has had me concerned when it comes to trying to get him off the formula and back to au naturale feeding. Today he latched and went to town...I'm sure this isn't exciting to anyone but me. I must confess, it made me so happy I had to call Mark at work to tell him.

And now I think...OH MY GOD...I'm going to be that lady! I'm the breastfeeding mommy in the park who uses words like "engorged" and "letting down" and can talk about nothing but infant development. So my dear friends, if you are still with me, please continue to test my knowledge of current events, past events, or anything non-baby. I can happily announce that shortly after Isaiah was born, I was able to put together complete sentences and even use three-syllable words once again. A moment my husband declared a miracle, while he hugged and kissed me...he feared I was gone forever. :) Now all I need to do is diversify my topic of interest. So again, I beg you, please...please...please, save a friend from being THAT MOMMY and force a girl to have a normal conversation again.

That's all for now.